1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to the field of social networking through online communities or forums. Specifically, the present invention relates to providing management and verification of reputations for users and operators of online communities.
2. The Relevant Technology
The internet creates new ways to transfer information between users throughout the world. Ever evolving services as implemented through the internet provide for the communication of information for business, education, work, private, and social purposes. As a result, these services attract increasing numbers of users to the internet year after year.
Many thousands of web sites have communities of registered users who interact with each other via a forum accessible over the internet, e.g. via a social forum, via websites enabling auctions, via websites providing classifieds, and so on. For instance, online social networking sites or online forums provide an opportunity for multiple users to communicate with each other. Some forms of community communication include chatting forums, blogs discussing various topics, auction sites, trading sites providing a forum for exchanging goods and services, etc.
Participation in these online forums typically involves an exchange of information. One popular form is the textual exchange of information. For example, in a social chatting forum or blog, a user is allowed to post a message. The message may be situated anywhere in a string of messages associated with a particular discussion. For instance, the online forum may be an investment forum that provides discussion concentrating on the trading of stocks. Other users may respond by including their own message in the string of messages.
One inherent problem of these online forums is the monopolization and degradation of communication by certain users. One particular user may cloud participation in the online forum by focusing on what is unimportant or exhibiting bad behavior on the forum, such as constantly criticizing other users and their comments. As a result, the overall effectiveness and participation in the online forum will degrade over time.
An unsatisfactory solution is to kick the unwanted user out of the forum, once the manager of the online forum notices the bad behavior of the unwanted user. Unfortunately, this is only a short term solution, since the unwanted user can simply invent a new username having new registration information, and participate in the online forum using the new user name. The remaining users would not be aware that the same individual, who previously was kicked out, is participating under a new username. Over time, the discussion in the online forum would continue to be clouded by the deleterious participation of the individual, until that individual, posing under the new username is again kicked out of the online forum.
Another unsatisfactory solution would be to charge users of a social forum. However, asking for payment for access to such forums can be a serious impediment to attracting new users. Typically, registration for participation in any forums is performed without a fee to the user. Even if a forum requires an email address pursuant to registration, obtaining an e-mail address typically does not incur any cost. Asking for a fee upon registering with a forum would put that forum at a serious disadvantage to other cost-free forums. This free registration to forums enables the degradation of bad behavior. When an outlaw user is kicked out of a forum for bad behavior, that user can simply create a new email address and register again, using the new email address, without difficulty and without any financial cost.